It's A Cold World
by Future Sith'ari
Summary: Having been dropped off in a new world to fulfill a request from President Valentine, Diego Brando enjoys his newfound position as General Esdeath's consort. Although he could do without dealing with the bothersome Night Raid.


**Opening Notes: So, this story is a spin-off of the second chapter of _Bizarre Encounters, _and since one of the rules this site has is that posting the same material/chapter is a no go, context here will have to mostly either be gathered from the _in medias res _beginning, or from the chapter it is based on.**

* * *

She listened for him. If he was trying to make her enamored, it was working. Then... there it was. Galloping, coming from the left. Her neck nearly snapped with how quickly she turned her head.

There he was, his horse running through the trees.

Esdeath grabbed the reins and pulled them, simultaneously digging her heels into her own horse's legs. The chased resumed. She slithered through the branches and trunks, closing in on him. She could finally see details of him. He was rather short, had alabaster skin, and long blonde hair. Part of her wanted to see what his face looked like. So she decided to catch him even quicker. _I wish I had a collar and leash on me. I'll just have to knock you out._

Ten meters behind him. Seven meters. Five.

He vanished.

Esdeath, not about to be taken offguard by the same trick twice, kept an eye out for more wires. _Invisibility? No, I would still hear... his..._

Galloping. Coming from behind her. She twisted her neck to look behind her. There he was. Cyan eyes gazed at her.

"Hello, General!" He shouted over the horses' running. "My name is Diego, and this time is mine! _**ZA WARUDO!"**_

* * *

Everything stopped.

Well, almost everything.

"Five seconds... yes, since time is frozen, there's no need to phrase it as such." Diego reached into one of his saddle bags and pulled out several knives. "Valentine said I'm suppose to impress you, and seduce you. This should do the trick." He tossed them as hard as he could. The myriad of blades flew all of one meter before their speed gradually yet quickly ceased, leaving all of them seemingly floating in midair. "And time resumes."

* * *

Two decades of training paid off for Esdeath in that instant. One moment, her potential suitor, brought to her by one of her late father's oldest friends, was behind her, introducing himself during their chase. And the next, he was still there, but an entire kitchen's worth of knives were flying at her. Most people would have panicked. But General Esdeath was not most people. Reaction kicked in instantly as the silver blades made themselves known to her eyes, and she brought up an arm. The action made Diego raise an brow, only for both of his eye lids to follow. Ice sprouted out from her limb, like a translucent gauntlet. It manifested as quickly as the knives moved. Diego's long range weapons were buried into the spontaneously frozen area. Except for one.

Esdeath's brain sent the signals that her body had been injured. She glanced and saw the handle of one of the knives sticking out of her left clavicle. The white fabric of her uniform under the entry point slowly became stained with crimson. The new coloration spread from her shoulder downward to her chest, making Diego Brando the newest on a very, **_very_** short list of people who had managed to best the General and make her bleed. She stared at the handle, shocked in a good way.

She allowed the large slab of ice to drop to the ground and pulled on the reins, making her mount stop running. "You... you landed a hit on me."

She moved her head to see him, readying for another attack, only to find she might as well have been talking to the trees surrounding them. Diego's mount had come to a halt as well not two meters away from her, and he was reading a piece of paper, one hand holding it and the other keeping his own reins on his lap.

"Smile... I really don't do that enough, do I?" He was obviously speaking to himself.

Taking a wild guess as to just what he was reading, yet thinking that it was impossible he had gotten his hands on it, Eadeath jammed a hand into the folds of her jacket. The pocket was empty. Her list of traits needed in a lover was gone and in his hand.

She could tell by his expression that he held little concern with the requirements, as was expected. This stranger, all but gift wrapped for her by Funny Valentine, was quickly enticing her more and more with every passing second.

While he focused on the expectations she had, Esdeath opted to make herself rationalize on just **how **he was doing... whatever it was that allowed him to catch her off guard. But first, a more immediate problem. She gripped the knife handle with her right hand and, with a swift flex, yanked it clean out. The pain multiplied, but she ignored it. She dropped the weapon to the ground and applied pressure to the wound. It did not feel too serious, but the less blood outside of her body, the better. She checked in on him once more.

Again, he was gone.

"Danger Beast?" The confused words came from her left side. She twisted her torso so quickly, she nearly fell out of the saddle. There he was, next to her, mounted on his own steed and still reading her written words. "Is that slang or something?"

"You... don't know what a Danger Beast is." For the briefest of moments, she felt like riding off and leaving him to do whatever he may, but it vanished just as quickly as it had come.

Fighting the unknown. For her, that was something akin to a romance novel plot. A deep rooted memory came to her. An image of her father played in her mind, telling her about his blonde friend who "came from somewhere far away. So far, it was nigh impossible to find."

If said friend was from such a place, perhaps it did not have such hideous creatures. And if that friend had brought Brando to her, then there was a decent chance he was from the same area, right?

Diego reread the list once much, finally memorizing just what else he had to do to get his position secured. _All I have to do is hunt a Danger Beast... whatever that is. A Stand maybe? No, that can't be it. She couldn't see The World..._

As he continued to ponder, and she kept on bleeding, something filled their eardrums. Growling. Too deep to be one of their stomachs giving them the signal that it was dinner time. Diego's eyes drifted from the parchment to the treeline. In the vast greenness, he could see three scarlet dots. Out into the dying light of the setting sun came... something. The sight of it reminded Brando both of the lions he had seen in traveling circuses, and bulls from the farm he and his mother had slaved for, albeit with much larger horns. Its trio of eyes were alien to him. Its muscles coiled as it crouched down.

"Ah. It's about to pounce us, whatever it is." He sounded completely uninterested.

"That's a Jackaleo, Brando. A Danger Beast," Esdeath verified. _I can kill that pathetic scavenger like a bug... I wonder what you can do to it. _She watched as Diego dismounted his horse.

He reached into one of his saddlebags and pulled out a revolver pistol. _Just in case it's thicker than it looks..._

The sadistic General watched as he forced a bullet into the chamber before slamming his fist into the cylinder. His weapon ready, he took a few steps towards the hungry predator, his spurs clinking with every footfall. _He's going to kill it with **that? **A little small..._

Brando stood there, one hand on his hip and a heel raised. Without the height granted to him by being in the saddle, he no longer possessed the illusion of being big or tall. That was enough for the Jackaleo to bare its numerous teeth at its seemingly weak dinner.

The freakish creature roared... and charged. Its drooling maw opened, preparing to take Brando's head off. And yet he still just stood there.

Esdeath watched the spectacle. _Does he feel no fear? Or is he just suicidal?_

Diego summoned his Stand. _Alright. I have to time this right... _The Jackaleo homed in on him. It leapt, claws out and ready... only to stop in midair, not two feet in front of its not-so-defenseless prey

"Five seconds." Diego quickly moved over to the Beast's right side while his Stand went to the left. "Four seconds. Pursuing me, especially one on one... muda da. Two seconds." He aimed his firearm and squeezed the trigger. The World reared its arm, fingers curled in air tight. With a mere sliver of will from its User, it swung forward. Its fist went through the crime against nature's skull like a knife through warm meringue. "And time resumes."

Esdeath could not believe her eyes. One moment, her potential consort was staring down a Danger Beast. And the next, he had moved to its side. A deafening BANG was let out from his revolver, and the Jackaleo collapsed. Crimson ichor came out of both sides of its head like a faulty showerhead. Its eyes became glassy and it soon stopped moving.

Smoke came out of the gun's muzzle as Diego lowered it, careful not to let the hot barrel singe his breeches. "Question. Do you locals eat these things? Because I've devoured worse, and it's been a while since my last full meal." His eyes narrowed as he looked to the side. "Damn Manhattan vault, eating up my time..." Refocusing on the woman would take him straight to the top of this Empire's society, he found himself getting smothered by her, his chin in her bust and her arms wrapped around his back.

"I think I've found the one..." She spoke with ecstacy in every syllable.

Diego blinked. _Well then. That was easy._


End file.
